they
i
.
edt eee ae Le a
regard
as
-
ms
©
a
pape eat nek mae catands
we ttaee tebe ee
a service,
and
free
speech, which they regard as a right.
But there seems to be a developing consensus that, if some recruiting is to be
ended, all recruiting (excepting perhaps
by educational institutions) must be
ended; to give administrators arbitrary
power to distinguish between different
government agencies and firms would
be discriminatory and could lead to
continuing inequities.
® Research.
Harvard,
unlike many
universities, does not permit classified
research on university time, but a facul-
ty memberis free to use 1 day a week
for any outside consulting he desires.
Nevertheless,
there
are charges
that
the university is “complicit” in the war
because of some of its research commitments. No one really knows the
facts about the broad scope of research
conducted at the university, and some
faculty members suspect that there may
be ways around the university’s abso-
lutist rule. This area of study is now the
most ambiguous, but could be extraor-
dinarily important.
© Free speech and forms of protest.
The issues raised by the McNamara and
Dow incidents may be reviewed again.
There is a school of thought that be-
lieves Harvard should lay down definite
guidelines about the kinds of demonstrations that are unacceptable and the
punishments they will carry. The college administration has avoided this
Waterman, First NSF Head, Dies at 75
Alan T. Waterman, first director
of the National Science Foundation
and former president of the AAAS,
died on 30 November at the age of
75, following a brief illness. Waterman headed NSF from its founding
Communication
with
Mainland
China; Advisory Committee, Pacific
Science Center, and Board of Trust-
ees, University Corporation for At-
moOspheric Research.
Waterman was a member of many
in 1951 until..1963. In the last year
scholarly organizations, and recipient of numerous awards including
age, but continued to serve under a
his work with OSRD,and the Presi-
of his service,he was past the government’s compulsory retirement
special order from President Kennedy.
Waterman completed both his
graduate and undergraduate work
at
Princeton.
After
receiving
his
Ph.D. in 1916 he becameaninstruc-
tor in physics at the University of
Cincinnati. During World War I,
he spent 2 years with the Science
and Research Division of the Army
Signal Corps. He then became an
assistant professor and later an associate professor of physics at Yale.
During World War II he served
with the Office of Scientific Research
and Development, holding several
positions, including chief of the
Office of Field Service. In 1946,
Waterman became deputy chief and
chief scientist of the then newly
established Office of Naval Research.
He wentdirectly from ONR to NSF.
Since his retirement he had been
active in various advisory and administrative activities, serving on
numerous boards and. committees,
including the Board of Trustees,
Atoms for Peace Awards; Advisory
Board, Center for Strategic Studies,
Georgetown
University;
Liaison
Committee on Science and Technology, U.S. Library of Congress;
Special Consultant to the President,
National Academy of Sciences, and
Chairman, Committee on Scholarly
8 DECEMBER 1967
the Presidential Medal for Merit, for
dential Medal of Freedom for his
leadership in government support of
basic research. He also held the Cap-tain Robert Dexter Conrad Award,
from ONR, and the Public Welfare
Medal from NAS. Recently he re-
ceived the Karl Compton Award from
the American Institute of Physics.
On the death of Waterman, his
successor at NSF, Leland J. Ha-
worth, issued a statement, which
said in part: “... When Alan Water-
man took the helm of this fledgling
National Science Board, established
the basic philosophy still used in
the Foundation, whereby scientists
themselves largely determine the di-
rection and progress of basic re-
few in Govern-
search. The Foundation early established the pattern of giving strong
basic research in the total spectrum
support to research at the Nation’s
agency
in
1951,
ment recognized the importance of
of the Nation’s scientific and technological enterprise. Alan Waterman
was one of those few: his work at
the Office of Naval Research had
already established that agency’s
leadership in providing financial
support for basic American science.
When he came to the Foundation
he began to build another organiza-
colleges and universities where much
of the best basic research and all of
the training of future scientists, en-
gineers, and physicians is carried
out. To the widely endorsed concept
of providing strong support to ad-
vanced students already committed
to scientific careers, the Foundation,
could develop strength commensu-
under his leadership, added the next
logical step of assisting improvement of scientific education on the
Nation’s needs.
“Following the precepts set forth
der. Thus the Nation is also strengthened through a better informed
tion through whose efforts science
rate with its promise and with the
in the famous report by Vannevar
Bush, ‘Science, the Endless Frontier,” as embodied in the National
Science Foundation Act of 1950,
Dr. Waterman, in concert with the
earlier rungs of the educational lad-
citizenry,
with
an_
ever-increasing
depth of understanding
of
what
science is, and what part it plays
in the lives of everyone...
.”
—G.M.P.
1293